Jagr is slumping and the Devils are 12th in the Eastern Conference after losing at home to Chicago last Friday and in Buffalo last Saturday.

So until the NHL shuts down for the Olympics in February, Jagr's only hockey concern is getting the Devils into better position to earn a playoff berth, and heading into Tuesday night's game against the Flyers, they trail Philly by 4 points for a spot.

Jagr still leads the Devils with 13 goals, 21 assists and 34 points, but he has just one assist over his last seven games after piling up two goals and 11 points in his previous seven.

His dry spell has kept him tied for seventh all-time in goals with Mark Messier and left him one behind Mario Lemieux for seventh on the NHL's career scoring list.

Jagr was asked if he feels he's still playing well, still getting his chances.

“It all depends how you play, how the team plays,” he responded. “For example, you have American football. You’re a wide receiver and you play on a team and they like to run the ball. Are you going to be a bad receiver? See. Some wide receivers can look better than the other ones.”

Make sense?

“I’m in the NHL,” Jagr said. “I’m not frustrated at all.”

Regardless, Devils coach Pete DeBoer has been worried all season long about overusing Jagr, who will be 42 on Feb. 15.

DeBoer's said several times previously that Jagr has been so consistently good that it's hard not giving him big minutes. On Tuesday, DeBoer said it's even harder now taking it easy on Jagr due to center Patrik Elias on the IR due to a Dec. 24 total-body soreness injury that apparently isn't minor.

"Our schedule has lightened up here, which has helped give him some recovery time," DeBoer said. "But with Elias out, I don't see his ice time … me being able to lighten his load very much. It is what it is and he seems to be dealing with it.

“He has no problem with it, and for me, I'm just talking in a perfect world, I wouldn’t want to use him that much. But we have to."

Jagr has no points over his last three games, but he put five shots on goal in last Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Sabres after having a combined total of four shots in his three previous games.

“I liked his game last game,” DeBoer said. “I thought his third period was his best period, which was a good sign.”

Another good sign is Jagr, a health nut, says he still feels great despite getting an average of 19:15 of ice time per game, second highest among Devils forwards behind only linemate Travis Zajac's 20:23.